NEW YORK: Exxon Mobil reported a drop in second-quarter earnings Friday due to lower crude prices and a hit from refinery plant maintenance, but notched a solid increase in oil production.
Profits were $3.1 billion, down 20.7 percent, with the company benefiting from a one-time gain of $500 million due to a favorable tax change in Canada.
Revenues dropped six percent to $69.1 billion.
The US oil giant scored a 7.2 percent increase in oil and gas production, citing growth in the Permian Basin, an energy shale region in Texas, and at Hebron, an offshore project in Canada.
The increased output helped mitigate the hit from oil prices, which were down as compared with the same quarter a year ago.
But Exxon Mobil suffered significant drops in profit during the period in both chemicals and refining due to an increase in plant "turnarounds," lengthy planned maintenance work, as well as unplanned downtime at facilities in Texas, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Shares rose 0.7 percent to $73 in pre-market trading.
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